


Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat

by pixelk1



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 19:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5261150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixelk1/pseuds/pixelk1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico di Angelo, of all people, should know better than to fall asleep on the deck of the Argo II. Leo Valdez should remember when he decides to carry sleeping demigods to his cabin. What happens when Leo and Nico accidentally sleep in the same bed one evening?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Heros of Olympus fanfiction and of course its a one-shot with a weird, not very well known ship like Valdangelo, two characters I am convinced I can't write for. Enjoy!

The boat rocked calmly from side-to-side as Leo stood at the helm of the _Argo II_ . Once again he found himself trying to decipher the secrets of the Archimedes sphere but the gently sway of the sea was making him sleepy. More than once he found himself swaying along with the ship, as if it were putting him into a trance. His eyes drifted way from his console and over to Jason on the other side of the ship where he kept watch for potential attacks.

Since Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus they had avoided traveling by water as much as possible but in their last battle several _venti_ had knocked his aerial oar stabilizers out of sync. If they tried to fly the boat would have pitched sideways and half the things on deck would have fallen off the side.

Remembering this Leo sighed, and set down his sphere. He still had a lot of work to do to fix the stabilizers. As he headed across the deck of the _Argo_ to the stairs that would lead to below-deck, something caught his eye. Behind a stack of crates lay Nico di Angelo, fast asleep. Leo rolled his eyes at the careless demigod.

Leo approached, intending to shake him awake no matter how scary the dude seemed. Leo knelt on one knee, and reached forward but stopped for some reason. He looked so peaceful as he slept. All of the worry lines he had accumulated over the past months seemed to disappear and his signature scowl was gone as well. When he was asleep, Nico certainly lived up to his last name; Di Angelo. The guy looked down-right angelic.

Leo heaved a sigh and moved in to wake him but no matter how hard he shook all that Nico did was wiggle a little and flop over. Leo looked up and noticed Jason watching him. Leo raised his eyebrows, silently asking what he should do. Jason shrugged and tilted his head. Leo sighed again and hefted the younger boy into his arms. Leo was no body-builder but Nico was _really_ light. “Okay little guy, lets get you to sleep.”

He managed to carry the boy down two flights of stairs before he propped Nico against the wall of the hallway, wondering what to do with him. It had suddenly hit him that Nico didn’t actually have a place to sleep. He could have put him in Percy or Annabeth’s room but neither of those felt right since their owners where kind of crawling through hell. Finally Leo decided and he hauled the boy to his own room, settling him on his bed (which had previously been covered in engine schematics.) Leo intended to sleep in the engine room again that night so it didn’t really matter anyway.

Nico rolled over so he was up against the wall, mumbling something about a flying school bus (or had it been flaming?) in his sleep. Leo tugged off Nico’s shoes and quickly tossed a blanket over him before hobbling away. He would explain what happened in the morning.

Hours later Leo could barely keep his eyes open. Usually working on the ship came naturally to him but the rocking of the boat just kept making his eyes unfocused and his fingers slip. He had gotten some work done but much more was still required before the boat could lift off again. Sometimes he felt like the boat was falling apart around him and no matter how much duct tape he applied it just wouldn’t stick together. Several minutes went by before he realized he had stopped working and had begun calculating how many rolls of duct tape it would take to build a working life-size replica of the _Argo II_. Usually that meant he needed sleep.

He stretched and got to his feet, surveying the wreck that the engine room was. There was barely enough room to maneuver around in the space, let alone lie down to sleep in it. Leo yawned and turned, heading for the door. He would sleep in his own room that night and tidy up in the morning. Sleep in his nice, comfy, empty bed would be nice. He swung his door open and entered the dark room. Leo kicked off his shoes and crawled into his bed, fully clothed. The swaying of the ship rocked him to sleep as if he where a baby in a crib.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was jolted awake by a muffled sob coming from somewhere to his left. Half-sitting up, Leo turned his body to see the son of Hades curled in a ball facing away from him. Leo blushed. He had completely forgotten he had put him in here the previous night. Nico sobbed again, a slow, shuddering drag of breathe that left Leo’s insides feeling like putty. Leo had seen Nico do terrifying things like gutting monsters and raising the dead and yet here they where. Before Leo could change his mind he pulled the other boy close, wrapping an arm over him protectively. Nico’s uneven breathing obviously meant that he was awake but he neither spoke, nor acknowledged Leo beside him. Together they lay there as Nico cried into his pillow and Leo hugged him, simply to let him know that someone else understood how frightening the nightmares could be and that he wasn’t alone.

Eventually Leo fell asleep again and when he awoke again hours later, the younger boy was nowhere to be seen. Leo crawled out of bed and put on clean clothing before snagging an enchilada from he kitchen and heading to the engine room to continue his work. He took a bite from the enchilada and dropped to his knees, pulling a wrench from his tool belt to make adjustments to the engines calibrations. Leo didn’t known what to think about what had happened during the night. It had been an accident, after all and maybe Nico would just pretend that their awkward night together had never happened. Of course, the second he thought that someone behind him cleared their throat.

Leo turned, his cheeks bulging with food and almost choked when his eyes fell on Nico, tucked into a corner, his face covered by a shadow. Nico stepped out of the shadow and into the light. “I think we need to talk,” he said. His face was expressionless and guarded but his eyes where darting all over the room as if he was trying to look at anything _but_ Leo.

“Talk about what?” Leo said, “We could talk about this enchilada because this stuff is pretty good. Here do you want a bite-”

“Valdez, you know what I mean.” Nico said, his eyes finally meeting Leo’s. “I don’t remember exactly what happened yesterday evening but I think some pretty important stuff went on. For starters I distinctly remember waking up from a nightmare and being comforted by you in your bed.”

Leo paused, unsure of where to start. “I-it was an accident,” he finally managed. Nico raised an eyebrow and Leo explained what happened further. “I only comforted you because, well, we’re all demigods. We all get nightmares. I hated to see someone have to go through that alone.”

“I don’t usually like being touched,” Nico said. Leo noted that he spoke slowly, as if choosing his words carefully.

“I know. This mix-up wont happen again,” Leo promised. 

Nico suddenly averted his gaze and turned to go. “Good.”

Just as Nico reached the doorway, an idea jumped into Leo’s head. “Ah, Nico?”

Nico paused and turned back, “Yes?”

“When you said you usually don’t like being touched...if you have another nightmare you can come by my cabin alright?” Leo said, not looking up. 

Right as the words left his mouth he cringed on the inside. Did he have a death wish? He looked up, prepared for Nico’s scowl or for a hoard of zombies ready to rip him to shreads. All he saw was a young italian boy who looked tired and scared. Nico studied him and then slowly nodded before turning and disappearing into the hallway.


End file.
